It’s a tale as old as time. A plucky startup builds its userbase with an open environment that allows third parties to get in on the fun. Reddit, being a perfect example, once a haven for free speech, it locked up its APIs and pushed out everyone who made the site so successful. Today, Strava, once considered one of the better exercise tracking apps, is the next in line to lock up its API access for third-party apps, using privacy as an excuse to force developers to stop sharing your Strava data with anyone but you.
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Strava doesn’t want to share with third parties anymore
It must be time to pull the ladder up
On the surface, this API change sounds okay from a security standpoint, but once you dive deep into the most popular apps that use Strava’s data, such as Garmin and VeloViewer, you’ll quickly see that this move has unequivocally hobbled said third-party services and apps. Worse yet, Starva clearly knows this change won’t be popular with its users, so it has already stated it will delete any forum posts pertaining to requesting this change.
^ It’s a change for our privacy, so it must be good
Strava recently sent out an email alerting users to the API change that landed on November 11th, and thanks to a report by DC Rainmaker that highlights this change while diving deep into its intention, it seems pretty clear Strava is doing this for itself, not its users, not its partners. You can find the full list of changes on Strava’s website, and a few of them are pretty concerning. The first is that third-party apps are now locked out of displaying your Strava activity data to anyone but you. This breaks coaching apps that rely on Strava data, and that’s just the biggest breakage the API change brings; there are plenty more that will affect apps like VeloViewer that used to be able to curate Strava data, so things like leaderboards are now broken across third-parties.
There are also knock-on effects to the API change, where users will have to rely more on manufacturers like Garmin to improve their unique API access for all of the apps that just got locked out of Strava’s API, and then all those apps will have to individually plug into these manufacturer APIs, which really isn’t feasible for most. This is why Strava was so popular; it was easier to plug into through a single API instead of each individual manufacturer option.
Strava also doesn’t want any apps or sites using designs similar to its own, as the company clearly wants its brand to stand on its own and not be confused with a third party. So it would seem Starva feels it was losing its identity to third parties. Perhaps because those third parties were offering better features than Strava could muster?
Strava doesn’t want you discussing the change on its forums, either
^ Strava proving how much it cares about its users
But worst of all, Strava does not want its users discussing its API change on its forums, stating clearly any such posts requesting a reversion will not be permitted. This highlights that Strava knows full well its change won’t be loved by its users, which certainly pinpoints precisely what the company thinks of its users’ concerns when big changes come rolling in.
It may be time to find a new exercise tracking app
Strava’s loss will be someone’s gain
So much like Reddit before it, Strava is intent on closing the gates on third-party API access, no matter how much anyone may dislike the change, which sure sounds like it’s the best time to find a replacement for tracking your Strava activities sooner rather than later.
